HTC One a Breakthrough?

Thinking of a smart phone that really has something new to offer? HTC One: conceptually, yes, it is a breakthrough. Now let’s have a closer look at a few of it’s best and most unique features.

It’s got a great body. The phone’s cover is made with a nano-molded metal, and it is almost seamless, with a gentle curve that aids in providing a good grip. The display is a 4.7 inch super LCD3 with 1080p resolution. Not to mention, it is really light, even though it possesses the supreme power of the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 with quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300 processor.

A distinct innovation that is part of the HTC One: Blinkfeed, part of the new HTC Sense 5 experience. Basically it does two things, ‘prioritize’ and ‘mashup.’ Of the thousands of apps and widgets available, most of us use only a handful. So Blinkfeed simply puts the apps that we are most likely to use right up front. But what’s more is that it even synchronizes our social channels and relevant self-chosen media to give a personalized experience. The result? Wake up in the morning, see your friends’ updates, check out the latest news from your chosen categories on your preferred site without ever having to search. If it turns out that you don’t like the personalization all that much, there’s an option to go to the conventional mode with all the apps included on display as well.

Another breakthrough feature from the HTC One? The boom sound. HTC One has two front speakers, with which it claims to deliver great stereo sound featuring amplified beats and good treble. The music gallery also displays artists’ info and uses the cloud to deliver the song’s lyrics.

HTC One also provides a voice recognizer, which enables users to answer calls from very noisy places by amplifying the recognized voice only, not the noise.

But the best feature may be this, saved for last: the oh-so-awesome camera. It is available with two modes, the normal camera mode and the Zoe mode. Even the normal camera has far more to offer than others on the market because it uses what HTC calls ‘ultrapixels’ in the sensor of the four megapixel camera. Ultrapixels are much larger than any of the pixels otherwise available on the market, promising improved per-pixel quality. In short, it provides better pictures in low-lit areas as well as in extremely bright outdoor spots.

Zoe is again an impressive HTC One innovation. It captures three seconds of video with 20 images. Once shot, it can be kept in the gallery as it is and the result is a moving movie-like picture. But that’s not all, Zoe offers many more features as well, including the ability to slide through the 20 images captured in three seconds to capture the perfect moment, individual attention to all faces in the frame to get the best expressions on all subjects, and the ability to completely remove unwanted moving objects from the frame.

The gallery provides even more options for editing, among them being the ability to add effects, sounds and transitions to photo albums to add to later picture viewing fun.

If you’re jumping with excitement, slow down just a moment, the HTC One won’t be officially hitting the market until March or April. Only then will we get a true picture of whether it is the breakthrough device anticipated. For now, we can surely hope for a phone that will be the talk of the town and a treat to the eyes. As for its effect on the pocketbook, that remains to be seen.